Surgical staplers may not be designed for use on particularly small tissue sections or organs, such as, for example, those seen in pediatric surgery. For example, a stapling mechanism and any associated gripping and cutting devices may be inappropriately sized and/or may operate ineffectively or inefficiently during pediatric procedures, where it may be desired to have a cannula that is around 5 millimeters in diameter or less.
For example, the prior art devices are sized and developed with various support structures to provide the rigidity necessary to function. The support structures include rigid I-beams, other rigid structures, and/or separate manually-manipulated structures for controlling movement of tissue manipulation devices. However, when developing a laparoscopic surgical device for use on small tissue sections such as seen in pediatric surgery, manufacturing sizes cannot simply be scaled down without further modification.